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Page 24 · DO #965 · 319_Love_Bx1FF10r
- Collection
-
Áskell Löve (1916–1994) papers
- Item/Folder
-
"Gentianinae"
- Digital Object
-
DO #965,
page 24
- Collection-level dates
- 1950–1987
Page transcription
23.
The species G. asclepiades L. of western Asiatic and central and south European mountains was included in the section Pneumonanthe by Kusnetzov (1895, 1896-1904) and Smith (in Nilsson 1967a). It stands, however, apart from all the other species of this group not only morphologically but also palynologically and cytologically, with its basic chromosome number x = 11. Grossheim (1952) placed it in a distinct series Asclepiadeae of the section Pneumonanthe together with the west Asiatic G. schistocalyx C. Koch and the east Asiatic G. scabra Bge. He distinguished this group from other taxa of his section Pneumonanthe (with winged seeds by aid of the corolla plaits being short and either entire or toothed, the leaves elongate-acuminate, and the flowers large, blue, and 5-merous. Although G. scabra is similar to the other two species in these characters, it can be distinguished without difficulty by its terminal cluster of bracteolate flowers with well developed plaits, as contrasted to the flowers of the other species which are in the leaf axils, always without bracteoles and with short plaits. G. scabra also differs in its pollen morphology, and since it is known to have 2n = 26 chromosomes, it seems most reasonable to retain it in the restricted section Pneumonanthe of the genus Tretorhiza, as T. scabra (Bge.) Löve & Löve which is validated below. The other species of Grossheim's series Asclepiadeae are characterized by the basic chromosome number x = 11 and distinctly smaller chromosomes, in addition to morphological and palynological differences that set them apart as a genus in its own right. The valid name available for this group is Dasystephane Adans. (Dandy 1967) in its original and restricted sense when species other than D. asclepiades (L.) Borckh. included in it by Borckhausen (1796) are excluded. As far as we are aware, the only other species to be included in the genus Dasystephane is the western Asiatic D. schistocalyx (C. Koch) Löve & Löve, as transferred below.
